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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27328597">31 years later</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricOutcast/pseuds/ElectricOutcast'>ElectricOutcast</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Garfield - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dramedy, F/M, Out of Character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:53:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27328597</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricOutcast/pseuds/ElectricOutcast</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>31 years have passed and Garfield remembers the nightmare that nearly broke him. Now he talks to Arlene about how the nightmare is making him consider very drastic decisions.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Garfield/Arlene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>31 years later</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of any related characters to Garfield, they are owned by Paws/CBSViacom.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The cold morning air had hit Garfield again and he felt the same shiver that he felt over thirty-one years ago. He was immediately reminded of the nightmare that badly shook him and still does to this day. But rarely did he ever display that fear to either Jon, Odie, or even Jon's girlfriend Liz. He instead kept his habit of over-eating, pulling pranks, cracking jokes, and being gnarly just to make sure he kept getting attention.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But in the thirty-one years of Garfield remembering his nightmare, he didn't really feel like pulling any of his practical jokes on anybody. Instead he walked to his favorite dining room table (the only table in the house), and poured himself a cup of coffee to drink. And he didn't know what pulled him to do it, but as soon as he poured his coffee into his mug, he had an urge to walk to the living room window and look outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aside from it being a beautiful morning, with the sun rising on his neighborhood, he noticed a skinnier cat with pink fur walking across the street. Garfield could easily recognize Arlene on the street, he decided that he need a third party to talk to about his nightmare. Knowing that it was out of character on his end, and already deciding he was going to do it anyway, he finished the rest of his coffee and put it in the sink. Then after some effort, Garfield eventually found some cans of his favorite cat food and dug out two, one for him and one for Arlene. Yeah even that was not normal for him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>ooooOOOOoooo</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Getting his cans opened and emptied into both his and Odie's food bowl, Garfield carried the food outside via the pet door in his house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning, Arlene," Garfield called to the pink-furred cat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning to you, fatty," Arlene replied then saw him carry the food bowls. "What's with the two bowls of food?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well you're not going to believe this, but as soon as I saw you outside, I had an idea to share breakfast with you this morning," Garfield laid the bowl with his name on it, in front of Arlene.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You sharing your food with me?" Arlene asked Garfield with a confused look. "Are you feeling okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah I know, I'm a very selfish cat," Both cats knew that it was a MASSIVE understatement. "But something had come to me last night and it's been having a weight on my back. I figure with you here, I'd have someone to talk to."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well I am hungry now, so can we eat first then talk later?" Arlene asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course," Garfield replied as the two cats began to eat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>ooooOOOOoooo</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Time and some silence passed the two cats as they ate together, and one would be shocked at Garfield's pace of eating, he actually started to eat like a normal cat and not like a pig at the farm of Jon Arbuckle's parents farm. But eventually the meal was finished and both food bowls were empty and 'it's now or never' Garfield thought to himself as he began to ask Arlene a question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You've obviously had your share of sleeping in dark cold alleys, right?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course, Garfield, it's pretty much how I kept myself in better shape as opposed to you," Arlene replied, barely resisting the temptation to poke Garfield's fat stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe so, Arlene, but have you ever woken up to the type of cold air you haven't been familiar with?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you getting at?" Arlene asked, feeling a little concerned for Garfield.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"One morning I dreamed of waking up in my bed, I'm shivering and wrapping my blanket around myself feeling a type of chill I never felt before. I then opened my eyes to see an eerie light from this doorway and I ended up walking towards it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Didn't your mother tell you to never walk through doors if you don't know the place?" Arlene quipped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's the thing with eerie lights, something about it drew me in. The next thing I knew, I'm looking all over my house for my loser human Jon Arbuckle and my stupid dog-friend Odie and I couldn't find them anywhere. I mean I must've looked in and out of that house," Garfield pointed his said house to Arlene. "For maybe an hour or so and took me that long to realize that I was alone in the darkness of my own house."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You didn't think he went to the grocery store and left you there?" Arlene said to Garfield with her eyes on the house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's the thing, I thought he did go to get groceries, but he didn't have to practically empty the house and leave me here. Because the next thing I knew, I was trying to calm myself down and look outside the window to see a sliver of hope. But the first I saw when I looked outside was a rickety 'For Sale' sign on the front yard nearly covered in tall grass."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Just you and that house alone?" Arlene asked and gave Garfield a look of genuine concern.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield nodded and continued. "I then turn around and look to see a bunch of dust, papers, cracked wood splinters, and the first thing I step on is a cracked picture frame of me with Jon and Odie on the floor. It made me realize that my house had been abandoned and that I haven't lived for years."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Almost like you were a ghost in your own home," Arlene began to understand the seriousness of his nightmare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But then I started to hear a noise, a recognizable noise, I would know of an electric can opener from anywhere. I ran to the source of the noise, the kitchen, and what I saw made my eyes and mouth go wide open."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You saw Jon and Odie didn't you?" Arlene asked as if she were reading Garfield's mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Naturally I was enthusiastic to see both of them and I was running to accept the bowl of food that Jon was offering me. But right when I was about to run up to the food bowl being held by Jon, it disappeared on me and I ended up being into a dusty kitchen and dining room table. And now I'm really starting to panic because I'm potentially trapped in a world where I don't even exist anymore."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene then begin to see Garfield shake himself and his knees began to tremble, and not knowing what came over here, she reached for him as he began to fall down to his knees and was barely willing himself to not cry in front of the pink furred cat. But the biggest surprise was how Garfield didn't find himself rejecting Arlene's offer of comfort, instead he wrapped his arms around her as he accepted her comfort.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"All these years, Garfield, and you never shared this nightmare with anybody?" Arlene asked softly in his ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield nodded against her face and felt some tears prickle down his face, but still managed to keep his composure to answer her question, "The closest I ever got to telling anyone was when Jon really snapped me out of the nightmare and I hugged him afterwards. I think I ended up pulling twice as many pranks on Jon and Odie the week after I started having that nightmare."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So you pull these pranks on everybody just to get attention because you don't want to be alone?" Arlene pulled Garfield away from the hug to look into his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It is true, Arlene, that's the reason why I am the way I am. I just want the attention, I don't care if it hurts me, I just want everyone to focus on me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It may hurt you yes," Arlene agreed. "But in all the years I've known you, if anyone did try to hurt you, they would be forever scarred for life."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield had to chuckle at her truth, "Poor Jon and Odie, they'd get the brunt of the hurt, even if they didn't draw the short straw."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene let out her own chuckle, "So how does it feel now that you got all this out of your chest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield had to think a little bit for the answer, he couldn't exactly remember what triggered him to even tell Arlene all this, other than feeling that exact type of chill this morning. Sometimes he couldn't remember what he watched on TV, but maybe that was what triggered him to do so.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I briefly remember a TV doctor telling someone about releasing your feelings was a sign of taking the first step to a new and better you. But the problem is, Arlene, I'm afraid of what I might become if I do try to change myself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you see yourself becoming if you were to start changing?" Arlene asked him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know if being thinner would be the right word I'd use, but I guess what would really scare me is something I never wanted at first. Not even with you." Garfield looked at Arlene when he made that statement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Excuse me?" Arlene began to glare at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield backed away and raised his arms up in surrender. "Hear me out for a second, aside from me pulling pranks on Jon and Odie, I've also done things to both annoy and hurt you. All the times when you kept telling me you loved me and how I laughed at you and replied that I loved myself, the times I would hog a big portion of our date meals and never share them with you. How you and I never even tip-toed around the idea of mating and giving something that's part of our life cycle for cats...your own litter of kittens."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kittens?" Arlene asked in surprise. "You were even thinking about wanting kittens with me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know it sounds out of character even for me, but this nightmare is making me realize that I don't know how long we have left on this planet. I don't know how long Jon's gonna be here, Liz, Odie, me, or you. But I know that if I were to have a nightmare like the one I had thirty-one years ago, it would potentially be a lot worse than it ever was since then."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You definitely are not feeling okay if you want kittens with someone, but you do realize if I were to finally agree with giving you a litter of kittens, you might have to make arrangements for me stay with you and your dog and human. Even if I do have to put up with Odie."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Or you and I could move in with Liz and we could make kittens at her vet office."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene blanched at that idea, "Eww I hate the Vet."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You and me both, but Liz and I have been on pretty good terms lately, so there's no doubt in my mind that you would be in good hands with her and I'd be by your side the whole time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Before Arlene had a chance to reply, Garfield raised his hands up and said "Look I know I'm probably freaking you out over all this, but I'm just letting you know right now, if you don't want this. We can end this conversation right now and I can still be as good a friend as I can be to you, Arlene."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This time Arlene stopped him by wrapping her arms around him in a hug, "That's the thing, Garfield, I really mean what I said when I told you that I loved you. Even when you kept laughing it off, I couldn't stop wanting to be with you, even if it meant not being your mate. But the fact that you also have come to me about this nightmare, you at least like me enough to share it with me. If you want to have kittens with me, you don't have to ask any further, I know we'll work out a way to have our kittens be born and then be giving away to loving homes."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Garfield smiled at Arlene and nodded in agreement, "Giving away the kittens is not a bad idea, but I do want us to at least keep two or three for us to raise."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Three kittens to raise? I wouldn't want you teaching them how to get fat off your lasagna."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey lasagna is life, Arlene, you just have to try Jon's special recipe for his. He practically stole the recipe from Papa Luigi's Pizza Place." </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene then chuckled "I don't care, Garfield, I'm not gonna let you make our kittens get fat off eating your pizzas and lasagna."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Could we compromise on eating healthy meats at least? Steak? Chicken? Fish?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene half-expected Garfield to just drop the conversation and walk away, but the moment he didn't, her heart practically melted. "They'll need to be on milk first, before we move to meat, they're gonna be just babies, Garfield."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Our babies, Arlene," Garfield added. "So do you want kittens?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Arlene finally rubbed her pink forehead on Garfield's neck and whispered, “There's nothing I would like better."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So the idea of this came to me while I was reading the strips that ran in late October of 1989 (23rd-28th), those strips are revered to this day due to how it broke drastically from the comedy that made Garfield a popular character that's still going to this day. Obviously Jim Davis has made no effort to revisit that event in 31 years, so I decided to create a continuation of that event and create an AU version of Garfield and Arlene.</p>
<p>I did try to mix in Jim's trademark humor with this story, but I think I fell short, but if any of you say otherwise I appreciate the compliment.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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